Cinegear Expo 2017 Wrap-up

The Cinegear Expo is unlike NAB in that it is tailored toward G&E and Camera. But this year LA was blessed to have a few sound vendors come out and hang out on the Paramount New York back lot. So what did we learn from Cinegear?

#1 Sennheiser Scans

First thing new was finding out how the evolution wireless series kits determine what is a good scan. The lead tech regional salesmen for the USA gave me some insight. As it turns out your RF squelch settings directly affect how it scans. You want to set your squelch to low and then perform the scan in order to get the cleanest bank presets. Funny… really wish that was in the damn user manual or promo video from Sennheiser… really would have been nice to have known this info for the past 14yrs. Sennheiser has never published what the background RF noise threshold was for their scans. Now we know!

Also Sennheiser does not have any new R&D for a G4/AVX2/SK2001 model in the works. They are waiting for the FCC to clarify the new rules about 900mhz, guard band wireless, and what 608mhz means for Band G systems.

#2 Ocra Boom Holder

Do not put your fingers between the holder and the magnets… it snaps hard! Don’t ask me how I came to this conclusion… I’m guessing… ya. That’s it. I’m guessing. I most certainly didn’t do something stupid like test the magnets. Nope….

The boom holder will ship next month with a MSRP of $60-$70.

#3 Professional 2.4Ghz Wireless???

One company at Cinegear did give me a inside scoop to a new product… And promised me to keep it a secret. Currently it is only a workbench prototype but that we should except to see it at IBC 2017 in September. It is a huge surprise given which company is making it and that it is really exciting to see an attempt at making a top-level 2.4Ghz wireless system. Thus far everything in the 2.4Ghz wireless space is dumbed down cheap consumer garbage.

#4 No New TC Cables

Two new cameras where announced at Cinegear. The Canon C200 does not feature TC and the new Panasonic Eva1 uses a 5 pin Lemo. This means we can survive another year without having to invest in more speciality TC cables!!!

That’s it!

About the Author

Andrew Jones is a location sound mixer based in Los Angeles. He started in the TV and Film industry in 2004. You can email him at Andrew@HoldForSound.com